Kana
by Ninavask
Summary: "I awoke alone and in a quiet place, somewhere far away. Beneath the ground. Separated from the rest of reality. It was there I felt pain for the first time, and a choking anger that was not my own festering inside me. Even when the Lotus called to me, I did not calm. Not until I awakened a third time, and was offered a sacrifice in blood. I am still not calm." - Kana
1. Chapter 1

**Homicidally Insane**

The bulkhead door slides open with the puff hiss of all Grineer machinery. Yet before it is even entirely open there is a rush and a blur of motion as a shape snaps through the small gap. Lights and the glittery of energy trails chase after the shape as it enters into the room. The sound of impossibly heavy footsteps, and metal scraping metal, squealing through the engineering chamber of a Grineer asteroid fortress.

Twelve Grineer soldiers, troopers and lancers with a pair of Butchers that seemed entirely too lost amidst their larger brothers, were in that room. By the time the shape was through the door it was already too late. Even when the first cry of alarm rang out they should have known it.

The clone troopers were dead in gone in the same amount of time it might have taken their hearts to beat a dozen times. The shape was among them, a blur of energy and golden glinting light. And blood, so much blood.

By the time the other three Tenno actually entered the room, the shape was on the move again. A wicked laughter filling the hallway as it fled from them and searched for more Grineer. Heedless of their actual purpose here as Alarms began to sound within the base.

As the three stepped into the room, one of them stepped on a piece of debris. A shard of grineer armour plate, coated in gore, lay shattered and discarded.

"Ew." The Ivara purred in her electronic voice. She glanced to the others there with her and tugged at the string of her bow absently.

"So… how long we staying?" She asked absently of the other two Tenno. A Rhino, that looked more like a green and blue wall with legs than a warframe, and a Loki who's weapons looked more valuable than half the machinery in this room. Neither answered, neither had time.

A chorus of footsteps sounded from another bulkhead that had opened, opposite the direction the blurr had gone. A score of Grineer in red armour came trotting out of the hall beyond. Orders were shouted as they sighted the three Tenno and weapons were raised. Grakata and Vulkar. All raised to find their targets, only no shot was fired.

There was the screeling sound of metal and the gleeful, malevolent, laughter came back. That blur shot through the doorway it had disappeared through a moment before and rose in a high arc across the room. The sound of it drew even the Grineer death squad's eyes. A breach of discipline that would have been lethally punished by their commanders, if their simply being there hadn't already been a death sentence.

The Ivara watched as the shape resolved into a figure. Clad in red and black and golden armour against the warframe's lithe shape. A halo of golden light reflected atop their helmet as the Prime variant of a Valkyr descended like a meteor into their midst. It was screaming something as it descended in it's distorted feminine voice. A shrill excited noise as it landed amidst the Grineer and swung, once, with a weapon larger than the Warframe was tall.

It took the Ivara a moment to realize the Valkyr was screaming the words murder and death and kill at random intervals, as loudly as it could. And by then it was already over. Bits of Grineer were bouncing off the machinery nearby, and what remained of the bodies themselves slumped to the floor as the Valkyr moved on.

There was a short moment of silence as the three Tenno stared at what had been only a moment before a Grineer death squad.

Then the Loki glanced towards the Ivara and snorted a laugh as he announced in a tiny mechanical voice.

"She says forty minutes."

The Rhino laughed, and the Loki laughed more, and then they left Ivara there. The two darted past the dead Grineer and after the Valkyr. The report of the Loki's Tigris and the roar of the Rhino's Drakgoon joining the alternately mad, shrieking, and delighted screams of the Valkyr somewhere down the hall.

" _Murder! Kill! DIE DIE DIE!"_


	2. Chapter 2

**A Cruel Tenno's Thesis**

The warframe's advance halted and Val Kek felt an uncomfortable dampness in his crewman coveralls that he was certain had not been there a moment before. That wasn't right, was it? Tenno did not just stop. Tenno never stopped. He had witnessed recordings, recordings that the investors would never support getting out into wide circulation. When Tenno attacked installations, they did not stop until they were finally done. It was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time that you didn't cross paths with the Tenno at their most efficient times.

This Tenno just stood there. It's head stared at him, cocked to one side. Like a bird might. Like an Moa tilted it's turret in that cute way that had been programmed in to replicate those very same birds when it did not understand an executable command.

Val Kek had never claimed to be a brave man, had no such pretenses in fact. And amongst the Corpus his only _real_ ambition was to not die a crewman. He wanted to go somewhere, work his way up into being a merchant of his own. Maybe buy and trade shield projector parts, or Moa. There was always a demand for Moa, and he knew a few factories that sold them on the cheap.

Yet here he was. His dreams of being a merchant cut to ribbons and scattered like… well… like Jel Kot over there at the hall entrance. Jel and his six Moa. Whom Jel had doted on as if they were children.

The Tenno's gaze, well he assumed it's gaze as there were no visible eyes in it's head, traced down his coveralls. They locked on something and Kek followed the line of sight with a desperate urge to find out what had interested it. The Cestra was still there, strapped to it's holster on his utility belt. He hadn't so much as drawn it in his defense, how could he have? He had barely actually handled a weapon before. There weren't _supposed_ to be Tenno here.

Maybe the Tenno just wanted his gun? Maybe that's all it was. It did not want to kill him, it just really wanted this… model seventeen cestra which was one of the second most common sidearms amongst the megacorps vast array of sidearms.

Still, it was worth a shot. And Kek slowly lifted a hand off the bulkhead and reached for the pistol.

He was struck against the bulkhead so hard, Kek was certain his skull had cracked. He hadn't even had the time beforehand to put on his helmet. The rectangular hunks of reinforced metal made it so hard to breath and-

The dampness grew worse as the warframe's head was there before his own. These slanted golden ovals of color looked at eyes, and they glowed with a fierce white hotness that might _seem_ like eyes. Like gaseous hate leaking from beneath the armour. However he did know it _was_ staring at him.

The warframe lifted the Cestra into his vision. Held in one small slim hand it looked gigantic. Like a huge piece of machinery in a small and delicate-

Red mechanical fingers snapped the Cestra barrels as if they were so many sticks. A tensing of fingers, and palm, and thumb and there was a loud crack. A brief flurry of sparks as the weapon's battery pack discharged ineffectual across the hand and the warframe dropped the two chunks of weapon without concern to the bulkhead below.

Kek wasn't quite sure what to make of that. He stared at the hand that had shattered the pistol, even as another held his throat and pinned him to the wall. His mind was finding it more and more difficult to process as his brain became deprived of oxygen.

He was aware of a sudden, desperate, demand to breath and Kek struggled against the iron Tenno grip. Mechanical fingers so like flesh, yet unyielding as a mountain side. However something did change. Something in the warframe's chest… shifted.

There was a face peering at him from the red sheathed chest cavity of the warframe. A pair of eyes that shone like twin stars in a youthful face. The light however came from within the red iris, and the youthful face was a twisted thing. With a great scar along it's jaw, a concave burn that bit into the cheek and left the face sallow and haggard.

The face was just… there. It sprouted from the warframe as if pushing through a thin film of light. And the face of a young woman stared at Kek.

And it smiled.

The Corpus died so suddenly, Kana was almost disappointed. As she smiled at him, her semi-corporeal shape pushing through the void to project itself in front of her Valkyr, he just up and expired. That smile turned into a rictus snarl and the fist of Valkyr that had held the Corpus tightened substantially as Kana retreated.

There was a popping sound that Kana ignored, and she was one with the warframe she had never even actually left again. Holding the corpse of a Corpus, that was conveniently absent a head.

She tossed it aside and impossibly powerful limbs sprang her warframe forward. The space of the hallway was crossed, and the door opened in a woosh just narrowly ahead of her. Her foot found bulkhead and she sprang up a level on the exterior of the Corpus facility. Gliding through the air as effortlessly as if she had been built for this. And she forgot her disappointment as she crested the next balcony in a smooth flip.

Kana landed on the guardrail to find a pair of Moa and another crewman on the balcony just in front of her. Stationed to guard the exterior of the research facility, but Lotus only knew why.

The Corpus had time to be surprised before Kana exacted her vengeance on him and his Moa instead of the dead one so far below.

"This is the Sixteenth Corpus facility this week." Calvo Vek said in no small amount of distress as he submitted his spoke report. Perrin Sequence senior executive Vada Quin however did not seem to share in his distress.

"We are aware of these losses, Vek. There is no need to bring them up again. We are handling it." She said, her voice a simmering string of patience on the edge of being snapped.

"The Sequence is not handling it fast enough!" Calvo insisted. "These are not safe targets, some of these facilities are not even linked with Corpus megacorp weapon manufacturing. The facility on Pluto two days ago was a nutritional supplement facility. The one on Jupiter? It was a dwelling prefabrication factory and-" Quin interrupted him there, her patience at an end.

"Do you have anything constructive to add to this conversation, Vek? We are aware of the situation with this particular Tenno." Quin intoned, annoyance creeping into her usually flat and emotionless voice.

"What is the Lotus doing about this? What about the Tenno Councilors?" Vek tried one more time. Quin's image contorted into an exasperated scowl. She sighed and then answered his question however.

"The Lotus will do nothing, and the Council has other matters. More important matters. Such as the Grineer Fomarions. Or even more importantly, these Sentients we keep hearing whispers about."

"They are going to just let this Tenno keep-" Vek started, but again Quin interrupted him.

"For the last time, Vek. This situation is being handled. You worry about humanitarian aide to the Corpus that are sympathetic to the Sequence. Leave the rest, to other departments." She snapped, and the communication feed closed.

For several long seconds Vek stared at the empty feed. As if he had only just seen it for the first time.

Then he cursed and lashed out, his foot struck his desk with a metallic thump that sent a dull throb of pain up his leg as he held his head and let out a shaky sigh.

"That is the problem, Quin." He breathed at nothing, despair heavy in his voice.

"This Tenno is _killing_ them just as eagerly as any other Corpus."

Vek sighed heavily and leaned back in his office chair. The office was small and cramped, perfect for an associate that had yet to really prove their value to the sequence. It kept him out of sight, and out of mind.

Why was this lone Tenno going so far out of their way to lash out? Every ounce of data that Vek could gather told him increasingly insane reports of this Tenno all across Corpus territory. And not just Corpus territory, but Grineer territory as well. And there were even the long range reports that detected a Liset coming from the void that matched that signature. That Liset would head straight to a Corpus facility, and then move on. As if the thing was on a tour of the entire system!

What made this Tenno do that? Oh sure most Tenno were indecipherable. Their aims and goals a mystery to everyone in the system, and they were given absolute freedom to do as they felt they needed to. Yet… did the Lotus not guide them? Was she not what kept them in check? If so why was this Tenno acting so… so… insane? Attacking non-military facilities as well as military ones.

There had been reports of this Tenno attacking a Grineer colony. Not it's defense force. Not a munitions depot or some kind of obscure research lab, but a colony. With incomplete Grineer workers who were still being conditioned to function. The closest things to civilians the Grineer had.

Profit preserve if this Tenno ever took a fancy to a Corpus colony.


	3. Chapter 3

**Public Enemy Numero Uno**

Calvo Vek had never received more than the most rudimentary of field training. Academia had been more his preference, and he had done well in mathematics and economics for all his life. He'd possessed a rare knack for numbers even amongst Corpus. Which allowed him to score more than well enough to avoid being enlisted as a crewman or shipped off as an engineer on some unfortunate or backwater assignment.

When many of his less lucky associates in the Academia had been preparing for a life of militarist grunt work, Calvo Vek had been monitoring stock exchanges and advising on investments to small business CFOs. When others had been receiving basic weapons proficiency training and survivalist lectures, he had been rubbing elbows with some of the brightest businessmen in the system. Not only that but he had also been making the first rudimentary steps in making his own business interests a relevant fact in the system, not just an idle daydream while he welded some computer panel to the wall somewhere.

He had purchased facilities on Pluto, and Venus. Io, Ganymede, and a very small very secretive mining operation on Adrastea. One of Jupiter's innermost and diminutive moons. Considering there were starships larger than then Adrastrea, most had not been so interested in such a mediocre opportunity for cheap resources already commonly available.

Of course the mining operation had not been purchased for profit. No the small little moon, little more than a collection of debris from the gas giants faint ring system, was just a holding title for a greater plan. A way for the property to belong to Vek but for it's true purpose to be kept hidden from the greater Corpus conglomerates. Profit preserve, Calvo Vek had hoped to someday open a sprawling resort on the miniaturized moon. Something for fellow Corpus to use to take a load off. Zero gravity bars, dance clubs, and spas across the misshapen ball of accreted dust. It may have been small, but it would make an acceptable base for what amounted to a space station in truth. Only due to it's status as a moon, Vek could avoid going through the lengthy legal process of purchasing and maintaining the rights to a space station.

Instead he would simply have very large asteroid type structure that would weave into and out of it's moon. Like a wormy parasite it would hang onto the tiny satellite as it rocketed around Jupiter. Completing one orbit every seven hours.

He had all the permits and licenses already sorted for a facility like that. It was simply a matter of accruing enough capital to finish the infrastructure, hire staff, and purchase advertising rights on as many major markets as possible. Then the club would open and Vek would become a very popular man indeed.

That at least had been the goal, but ever since seeing his convertor chip factory go up in flames five months ago, that plan had been as dead as his profit margins that quarter. And the following quarter they had shrank markedly as he worked not to rectify the profit shrinkage, but to gain vengeance for it.

Administrator Calvo Vek had a new purpose for Adrastea and the facility that wound it's way through it. It had taken millions of credits, millions and millions of credits that Calvo Vek did not have to rebuild and redesign the entire structure. He had built up a good credit record, and his pitch had convinced several investors in the new direction he was going with the facility.

One of his biggest had refused to name themselves, but had forwarded twenty million credits anonymously after Vek had outlined the premise of the facilities new purpose. That had been a huge help in completing the refurbishing process.

With the twenty million donation had also come a dossier of helpful suggestions to the renovation. After some review, Vek had taken to these suggestions. Responded to the sender with gratitude, and received something else as well. A schematic for something that would prove invaluable to his intentions for the facility.

Adrastea had changed from his original vision. It was no longer planned to be a resort for the relaxed and the wealthy. No zero-g entertainment rooms or any such opulence.

Prisus Adrastea was now a prison. A prison specially designed to contain Tenno indefinitely until the captured target could either be killed permanently, or sealed away and left to rot to the ages.

And it's grand opening was going off surprisingly well.

Vek watched from security footage as, much as his anonymous backer had promised, the target of five months of impotent rage nestled themselves neatly in the trap Prisus Adrastea had been designed for.

A lone Tenno Warframe, identified as a Valkyr-model by his security system internal database, practically flew through the halls at top speed. It lept off metal surfaces and darted out of cam sight only to leap into view of another in the next spare instant. Heedless of just how indiscreet it was being.

The Tenno moved blindingly fast, and Vek felt sorry for the crewmen he had placed in the Tenno's way. Ostensibly they were there to help watch for the Tenno and report its movements. In truth they were bait, and the Tenno took to this bait like a low-end market shark.

Vek watched as the Tenno came upon one such squad of Crewmen on screen, and averted his eyes immediately. Averting his eyes did not mute the sounds of alarmed and screaming crewmen, but it did save him from actually viewing the violent nature of their deaths.

The sacrifice was for a good cause, he knew, but all the same the thought that he was willingly sending these men to their deaths still made him sick. Quietly he tapped out the command for their families to be granted a stipend of credit and receive his sincerest apologies for the loss of life in the line of duty. That helped a little, but only a little.

The Tenno had spent the better part of the last twenty minutes delving deeper and deeper into the facility, and had finally just about reached their destination. Vek had already sent dozens of command lines like that, but at last it would soon be over. Likely the Tenno was applauding themself for not setting off the alarms, and delighted that no one had been alerted to its presence.

Vek had made certain no alarms would sound on the Tenno's arrival, but all stations were already on alert and closing in on the heart of the Adrastea facility. Where, enclosed behind layer upon layer of bulkheads designed to survive combat in the void of space, the Tenno would find themselves incapable of escape.

Only a few minutes more...

Around the corner the erratic Tenno darted and suddenly it was there. A massive blast door stood as solid and implacable as a wall before their warframe. A single console situated beside the door glowing faintly, almost invitingly, as it sat in standby mode.

There was no sign of caution, or awareness, on the Tenno's part as it stepped forward and began to tap at the console. Claw like digits dancing across the holographic projection interface as they "hacked" the door. Completely unaware that it was Vek who opened the door for them, not their skill with rearranging code segments on a convenient console.

The camera inside the prison sparked to life beside Vek and he smiled in triumph as he finished tapping out a series of commands of his own while the tenno charged into the room. Heedless of any potential danger. It's head swiveled from side to side as it searched for it's next victim, and it's target here in the Prisus Adrastea.

A target that did not even exist. The room beyond the massive bulkhead was completely empty.

Calvo Vek slapped the submit key on his console and sat back as the command activated. He turned to watch the Prisus Adrastea cam feed with rapt attention, even as he gave out the last few vocal commands to the Corpus soldiers in the halls that surrounded the chamber.

All at once the overhead lights throughout much of the Adrastea facility, including within the Prisus Andrastea itself, winked out. A rolling blackout that darkened the entire facility, and set every system onto the auxiliary power system for the briefest of moments. The only systems unaffected by the blackout were Life Support, Communications, and the security cam feeds.

Instead of growing alarmed at the sudden loss of power, Calvo Vek grinned in triumph. The rolling blackout was, actually, a very good sign. It meant power had been siphoned from the main line correctly. If instead of a blackout there had been a moon shattering explosion well… best not to think of what could have been and think of what was.

The process by which the Tenno would be imprisoned was a costly one when it came to energy. The Prisus Adrastea had just enough power to support it on the primary grid, with multiple backup power systems to keep everything running smoothly once the primary grid was drained for the initial startup. The bulk of the funding that had been provided had gone into designing and integrating the power system that fueled this process, and Vek had still not been sure just how well it would run.

Thankfully the power drain was only a momentary thing, and as a status screen beeped its completion lights snapped back on with blinding intensity.

In bright red letters on his consoles cam display Vek saw three beautiful words in bright red text.

 _Psychro Prisus Armed_

On the security cam the Tenno looked almost concerned. Vek watched as it lifted the massive sword, identified by a small tag on the cam feed as a "Galatine", and the weapon began to glow as did the warframe itself. Energy flowed across their frame and illuminated the walkway around them in reddish light.

The lights had not come back on inside the Prisus Adrastea, and they would not Vek knew. In short order they would not be needed any longer. As the blast door the Tenno had opened slammed and sealed shut behind them with several, very loud, audible booms of locking pins forcing themselves into position, Vek could not help but smile. That was the last stage before the Psychro Prisus activated.

In a blinding purple-white flash twin arcs of plasma leapt from two distinct points high on the spherical chambers walls. This blindingly bright bolts of energy filled the chamber with stark light and dove towards the Tenno at the center of the room. Slicing through air the instant their light became visible. Impossibly to dodge, impossible to avoid.

The twin bolts impacted the Tenno in a clap of thunder that Vek almost thought he himself could feel, safe in his control room kilometers away from the Prisus Adrastea. Purple-white lightning arced across the Tenno's frame and weapons and physically lighted it into the air. As if the bolts of energy had become solid, the frantic and erratic jumping became smooth. Like wire drawn taught the cords of power wound about the Tenno's arm from shoulder to wrist, and then out towards where the wall projected them. Pulling tight until the warframe hung in mid air arms stretched painfully out from their body.

There was another distinctive flash, and explosive boom, from the monitor as another pair of twin bolts lept from below the walkway the Tenno had stood on. They impacted low and then ran down the frame's legs until they were bound tight around their ankles and all the way up to their hips. More lightning coruscated up and down the warframe before these secondary chains of energy pulled taught as well. Pulling against the ones above until the warframe hung suspended in the center of the spherical chamber. Limbs pulled so taut it looked almost as if the bolts of energy were there to rip the limbs off.

There was a scream, Vek noted, as he watched the goings on with fascination. The Psychro Prisus was working to the letter, with the final stage of confinement about to commence. The bolts of of corsucating electricity, and the tension at which the energy coils put on the warframe, seemed to be causing it actual pain. It cried out in alarm, and agony, as bolts of energy ran up it's body, causing it to spasm violently.

As if the creature could sense what was about to happen, as if it knew just how much danger it was in, it struggled and tried to wrench itself free. This only made the pain worse as the energy bonds resisted these attempts. In fact, if Vek understood it correctly, any resistance caused the bonds to release more energy and pull even more tightly against that which they constricted.

Like an animal flushed from cover, something tried to escape the warframe in it's distress. A strange pale shape stretched out from it's chest and dropped to the walkway beneath. The warframe went limp in its bonds and the coils of energy swayed with the lack of resistance.

The pale shadow on the ground looked like a child… a strangely pale child with bright glowing eyes and white robes.

 _The Operator!_ Vek almost screamed with glee. The Operator of the warframe was actually with it? How had it fit inside the cramp confines of the mechanical monstrosity? How had it even gotten out?

He had so many questions, so many theories that buzzed through his head. But best of all that meant the next step likely would not just destroy the warframe, or the operator. It would simply hurt.

A lot.

As the pale shade of a child turned from their own warframe and started to run for the blastdoor. Vek wasn't sure what the pale child thought it might do once it got there, but it never got the opportunity. A large robotic arm lowered from the ceiling bearing the fifth and final energy modulator that made up the Psychro Prisus entrapment matrix.

Vek watched as the armature that held the modulator targeted the pale shade of the Tenno Operator. The fifth and largest modulator was designed not to entrap the operator like the others, but to neutralize the energy that all Warframes seemed to feed off. Much like the neutralizer fields many Corpus assault teams used, but significantly more refined.

If the frame had simply been empty, an autonomous robot like some still believed Tenno really were, it would have been vaporized in an instant. Instead Vek's wildest hopes had come to fruition.

The pale child stared up at the modulator with bright eyes, and raised a hand as if to protect their eyes as bright purple-white bolts of electricity began to run up the modulator. It was too late for the Tenno to do anything however as a fifth and final bolt of plasma arced out and struck the Operator square in the chest.

Vek watched as the Operator was lifted off their feet and driven back by the energy. Thrown the few meters through the air to impact with the limp and spreadeagle form of their warframe. There was an explosion of light as the shape of the Operator and the Warframe slammed together, and then… nothing. The fifth modulator continued to fire for several more seconds on the spasming and silent warframe until, finally, it cut out. Leaving the Tenno smoking and motionless between the bindings that held it.

Vek watched with concern and glanced from the readouts on his console to the camfeed in uncertainty. Had it indeed worked? The readout was reporting energy drained, but was the warframe really defenseless?

There was really only one way to find out.

Vek tapped into the Tactical Commnet his Crew Administrators would be on, and barked orders. Even as he watched the Warframes head loll about from side to side, as if dazed. Occasionally a stray bolt of electricity crossing it's frame and causing the body to spasm wildly, but beyond that they seemed compliant.

One of the massive doors leading to the spherical chamber wheezed open and a patrol of Corpus Engineers stepped in. All weapons were trained on the Tenno's warframe and they made their way cautiously towards the suspended and inert form.

Every so often the Tenno twitched and spasmed from an electrical shock, smoke rising from the warframe's lithe shape, and the Corpus crewmen would jump in alarm. Only for nothing to happen and they would continue forward.

Finally a crewman armed with a shock baton stepped forward and slammed the crackling weapon into the Tenno's stomach.

The Tenno let out an earsplitting scream of pain. A high pitched vibrating wail that hurt even Vek's ears in the control room. He covered his ears and watched as the prod crewman cringed back, but continued to run power into the prova..

When no retaliation came Vek ordered the retreat.

As soon as the baton was removed the Tenno went limp once more and it's screaming ended. Smoking and docile as it hung from the four great plasma tendrils that bound it. As the patrol retreated Vek watched, and waited.

When the patrol was finally gone, and the room sealed once more, Vek rose from his seat and brought out a comm unit to make a very quick call.

His investors would like to be alerted to the unmitigated success of the Psychro Prisus system.

And Calvo Vek needed a drink.


End file.
